1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game machine for allowing a player to play a game, and more particularly to a game machine such as a slot machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a typical conventional slot machine comprises a plurality of rotatable annular reels each of which is provided with different symbols on its outer surface. Recently, there has been proposed another slot machine comprising a plurality of display units each having a window capable of simulating the annular reels to display series of different symbols changed at random on the window.
When the player plays the game, the player initially inserts medals to the game machine and determines a betting condition including a number of medals to be betted and prize-winning line. The reels start rotating in response to the player's instruction. The reels then stop rotating in response to the player's instruction. The reels may automatically stop rotating after passing predetermined time duration. The game machine is thus operated to evaluate the combination of symbols on the predetermined prize-winning line to award a winning prize point to the player.
The game machine of this type comprises a control unit for executing a game program and a storing unit electrically connected to the control unit. The storing unit may include a ROM for storing therein the game program executed by the control unit, a RAM for serving as a work area for the control unit and a register for storing therein a credit point indicative of a total number of credit medals and so on.
This type of game machine is shown in FIG. 6 of the drawings to comprise a housing 50 and various operational buttons including three different betting buttons 51, 52 and 53, a start lever 14 and three different stop buttons 56, 57 and 58, a dispense button 64, and a medal slot 66. The housing 50 has a front panel 55 having three windows w1 to w3 through each of which three symbols aligned lengthwise are displayed. Each of the betting buttons 51, 52 and 53 may be constructed by a push button. The betting buttons 51, 52 and 53 are designed to allow the player to determine a betting point, e.g., one, two and three medals, respectively, to be betted for playing the game. The betting point is indicative of the number of medals betted for playing the game by the player. The medals to be betted may be coins, tokens, a prepaid card or the like. The game machine of this type may be provided with three different prize-winning lines consists of a middle transverse line 61, upper and lower transverse lines 62, and slanting lines 63 as shown in FIG. 6. The betting buttons 51, 52 and 53 are operated by the player to have the prize-winning lines 61, 62 and 63 determined, respectively, as well as the betting point determined.
Each of prize-winning lines has three symbols displayed thereon. The game machine is designed to evaluate the combination of three symbols on each of the determined prize-winning lines to award the winning prize point to the player on the basis of the betting point.
The start lever 14 is pivotally supported on the housing 50 and upwardly and downwardly movable to assume a neutral position, an upper position and a lower position. The neutral position is located between the upper and lower positions. When the start lever 14 is operated by the player to be positioned at one of the upper and lower positions, all of the reels start to rotate to have the symbols displayed through the windows w1 to w3.
The stop buttons 56 to 58 are designed to allow the player to selectively stop the reels moved to have the combination of the symbols displayed through the windows w1 to w3 defined, respectively. Each of the stop buttons 56 to 58 may be constructed by a push button.
When the combination of the symbols are defined, the control unit is operated to evaluate the combination of the symbols on the basis of the prize-winning line predetermined by the player. When the symbols on the predetermined prize-winning line are identical with each other, the winning prize point corresponding to the betting point is awarded to the player. At this time, the winning prize point is added to the credit point and stored in the register.
When the dispenser button 64 is operated by the player, the control unit is operated to dispense the medals corresponding to the credit point stored in the register to the player and to stop executing the game.
As shown in FIG. 7, the game machine further comprise a lever assembly 11 which comprises a rod portion 12 having a front half section extending outwardly of the housing 50 and a rear half section extending inwardly of the housing 50, and an axle portion 13 integrally formed with the longitudinally intermediate portion of the rod portion 12 and having a center axis 13a substantially perpendicular to the center axis 12a of the rod portion 12. The axle portion 13 is pivotally supported on the housing 50 and pivotal about the center axis 13a thereof. The lever assembly 11 further comprises a handle portion 14 integrally formed with the front end of the rod portion 12 and a sensor actuating portion 16 integrally formed with the rear end of the rod portion 12. The handle portion 14 is movable to assume three different positions consisting of neutral, upper and lower positions. The neutral position is located between the upper and lower positions. The rod portion 12 is pivotable around the center axis 13a of the axle portion 13 to ensure that the handle portion 14 is movable to the upper and lower positions from the neutral position.
The lever assembly 11 comprises a resiliently urging member 15 for resiliently urging the rod portion 12 of the lever assembly 11 toward the neutral position from the upper and lower positions. The resiliently urging member 15 is constructed of a pair of tensile coil springs 17 each having a center axis 17a extending in perpendicular relationship to the center axis 13a of the axle portion 13 of the lever assembly 11.
The lever assembly 11 comprises an optical sensor 18 including a light source 18a for projecting a light on a light path L substantially perpendicular to the center axis 12a of the rod portion 12 of the lever assembly 11 and a light detector 18b for detecting the light projected from the light source 18a. The center axis 17a of a pair of tensile coil springs 17 is also perpendicular to the light path L of the optical sensor 18. The tensile coil springs 17 have one ends securely connected to the housing 50 and the other ends securely connected to the rear half section of the rod portion 12 of the lever assembly 11.
The optical sensor 18 is positioned to have the projected light intercepted by the sensor actuating portion 16 of the lever assembly 11 when the rod portion 12 of the lever assembly 11 is located at the neutral position. The optical sensor 18 is operated to issue an instruction to the control unit when the light passes from the light source 18a to the light detector 18b, i.e., when the rod portion 12 of the lever assembly 11 is positioned to one of the upper and lower positions.
When the player plays the game on the game machine thus constructed, the player operates the game machine through the following steps: operating one of the betting buttons 51 to 53 to determine the betting condition, operating the handle portion 14 of the lever assembly 11 to have the reels start rotating, operating all of the stop buttons 56 to 58 to have the reels stop rotating. When the player intends to repeatedly play the game, all of the aforesaid steps are repeated. The player is liable to be tired due to the repetition of the operations. As shown in FIG. 6, there is a distance between the betting buttons 51 to 53 and the handle portion 14 of the lever assembly 11 which is not less than 5 cm. Therefore, the player should move his hand through a wide range enough to traverse the distance between the betting buttons 51 to 53 and the handle portion 14 of the lever assembly 11. As a result, this operation prevents the player from being prompt to play the game as well as the player is inclined to be exhausted by this operation.